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II. Protection Against Deception 3:1-23

Notice what he writes in verse 18 of chapter 3.​1 Corinthians 3:18 ESV Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise.Do you see what he does, he say in the midst of all of this division among the church, amidst all of you dividing over different teachers, you are deceiving yourselves because you think that you and your favorite teacher are wiser than the others. You think more highly of yourself and your teacher than others. You are being foolish, and apart from becoming a fool to the fool, recognizing that you are not as wise as you think you are you will learn the hard way.In this chapter Paul lays out a threefold means of protection against deception.First he provides a,

A. Proper Understanding of God’s Field (3:1-9)

Paul lays out the problem again in,

​1 Corinthians 3:1–4 ESVBut I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human?

He reminds them of their brotherhood in Christ again. He builds them up to prepare them for the coming rebuke.Paul then, says I cannot address you as spiritual, mature, wise men of God. You are still on the bottle, because you can’t handle the meat of the truth. There is still jealousy and strife among you. He reminds them again they are all following men and not the Man! Then in verse 5 he explains what they need to understand.

​1 Corinthians 3:5–9 ESVWhat then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.

Paul says, we are all just sharecroppers in God’s fields All we are doing is what he assigned to us. I, Paul planted the seed.Apollos watered. We are nothing but God’s servants, God is the one who provided the seed, the field, and the fruit. God is the one who gives the growth, don’t get caught up following us!He said we are just God’s fellow workers.You are God’s field. You are the land in which God has given us the seed to plant, you are the field which Apollos was assigned to stay and water. You are the field which God will fill with spiritual fruits and vegetables.Paul moves from the analogy of God’s field to the analogy of God’s building. And if the church wants to protect herself from deception and division she must have,

B. Proper Understanding of God’s Building. (3:9-15)

​1 Corinthians 3:9 ESVFor we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.

Paul close verse 9 proclaiming the church is the building of God. Not only are we to learn how God is responsible for the fruit in His field, he is also the foundation of His own building.

​1 Corinthians 3:10–11 ESVAccording to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

Paul say’s I came to you and I laid the ground work, I laid the foundation, I poured the slab that the entire building rests on. The foundation that squares and supports the church. This foundation is who? Jesus Christ. He is the one who is the strength and surety of God’s building the rest of us are just general contractors. We have just been sent to do what God has called us to do. To proclaim the wisdom of God, by the Spirit of God, which is salvation through the Son of God!He then goes on to remind them, he has left them to keep the building project going. But they are to remember, they best build out of the best materials. They better not go cheap on what they build onto the foundation of Jesus Christ.

​1 Corinthians 3:12–15 ESVNow if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.

He reminds the Corinthians, there is a Day coming where God’s building will be put through fire. Whatever you have built upon the foundation with will be exposed. If you build with worthy material it will withstand the fire, if you build with junk the fire will consume your work. You will then be left standing there covered with the smell of smoke and covered in smut. You will see the folly of your ways and the foolishness of your faulty building materials. Although you yourself will be saved. There is hope in this text, those who are part of God’s building will not be cast aside as long as they are built on the foundation of Christ, but the work they have spent their life engaged in will be burnt up if it is not built on biblical material, that points people to salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone!Paul has used the analogy of God’s field, God’s building, and now in verse 16 he turns to God’s temple. Paul again wants the church to have a,

C. Proper Understanding of God’s Temple. (3:16-23)

Notice how he opens verse 16,

​1 Corinthians 3:16 ESVDo you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?

Do you hear the rebuke in Paul’s question. Remember how we got here. You have divided over teachers, you are hindered from meaty teaching, you are dividing God’s people.Do you not know that you are God’s people and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? As R.C. Sproul has said, What is wrong with your people?Don’t you hear Paul saying the same thing.Don’t you know who God is?Don’t you know who you are?And you are going to divide the church over your fallible favoritism?????Look at,

​1 Corinthians 3:17 ESVIf anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.

Do you really want to be the one tearing God’s temple apart? Do you want to be the one causing division is God’s church? He will destroy you!

​1 Corinthians 3:18–20 ESVLet no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,” and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.”

Don’t be a fool, God will not be mocked. You are not as wise as you think you are and God will reveal that to you. He will show you your foolish ways. Paul closes chapter three where he started this section. This I believe is why MacArthur grouped this large text together in one lesson, because he starts with the issue in

​1 Corinthians 1:10–13 ESVI appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. What I mean is that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?

Then he closes the section in verse 21-21

​1 Corinthians 3:21–23 ESVSo let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.

Are there any additional reflections or questions you noted at the end of your study guide this week?